My mom needed me this summer and grad school would just have to wait till fall. I was so thankful I didn’t have to worry about what the Warlocks wanted anymore. My sister marrying the head of their clan insured I was safe from all that. But the Vampires, that was a different problem.

I pulled my new jeep into the driveway. Thank you, sis. One of the perks of her new husband also being a rock star.

I opened the car door and hauled my backpack with the essentials out of the door. It was heavy, and I groaned as I slid it onto my back. I couldn’t believe I was back here after everything, but there was no way I was staying in San Francisco when I could be on the beach in Santa Monica and not worry about paying any bills. The biggest perk of going home, I guessed.

I unlocked the glass door and took a step inside. The immediate push of energy made me suck in my breath. While it was comforting knowing we were protected, it was jarring when you weren’t ready for it.

“Jess, is that you?” A voice from around the corner in the kitchen chimed.

“Yeah mom. I doubt any other person could get through that protection,” I said.

“Exactly,” she answered as she made her way down the hallway.

“Who did you get to do that?” I genuinely wondered how she could get any other witch to do that for her. We were kind of castoffs from the other covens.

“You’d be surprised how much help you can get when your daughter is married to the most powerful Warlock in the States.” She smiled, but there was a hint of sadness behind it.

She knew what it meant for our family when she didn’t choose a Coven, but the idea of selling her children to a Coven for power was far worse to her than allowing a marriage of one of them.

“Have you had trouble?” I worried when I left that my mom wouldn’t be able to keep herself safe.

“Not since you left,” she said plainly.

“They were more interested in me,” I said with a sigh. Of course they were. According to everyone close to me, I was some ultra powerful witch who could incinerate everyone in a three-block radius. Fun.

“Jess, you and your sister were always more than me. We just didn’t see it until you were older,” she said with a smile.

“No one knows how, though.” I shook my head. “I would just like to go back to being a normal no power witch.”

“Well, you can’t. Now that you have your power, it’s there and there is no way to get rid of it,” she said.

Except Die. I didn’t dare say that to my mom, though. She already thought she lost me when that vampire tried to suck all my blood and magick from my body. I did wonder if they weren’t able to stop him, what would have happened. Would I be a vampire myself? Or do you just not come back from that? Again, a question I was never asking my mom.

“Get some rest. We can chat in the morning,” she said with a smile. Her eyes looked more troubled than usual. There was something she wasn’t telling me.

I guess I’d see in the morning.

***

I woke up with a jump. Something was past the barrier. I shook my head in confusion. There was no way anything could get beyond the magick my mother had commissioned for the house. It was stronger than anything I’d felt and I’d had a lot of protective magick placed on me over the years.

I threw the blanket off of me and leaned towards the door. I didn’t hear anything but the hum of broken magick. I sighed and wondered if my mom maybe did something to break it, but that didn’t make a lot of sense. Why would she break a spell she worked so hard to get done?

I stepped out of my room and peeked down the hallway. Everything was quiet and dark, but there was something tugging at my center. A feeling I couldn’t shake. It wasn’t fear like I expected or even the buzz of magick, but something entirely new and odd.

I took a couple steps down the hallway until I was outside my mom’s door. I opened it slowly and stepped inside.

“Mom, something’s wrong. We need to leave,” I whispered. I waited for her to answer me, but nothing came. “Mom.”

“Jess, you can’t stay here,” her voice was shaky.

I stared into the darkness, unsure of where she even was.

“Finally,” a deep voice said behind me as arms wrapped around me and pulled me into the darkness.

I didn’t have time to think before everything was black. The only sign there was anything touching me were the strong arms around my waist. I tried to pull away, but was pulled harder into a large body.

“Stop fighting me. You don’t want to get lost between the worlds,” he said with a low growl.

“Let me go,” I managed. Wait between worlds?

“In a minute,” he said, holding tighter.

I panicked. My body thrashed as I tried to pull away from him as magick flew past us. The darkness turned to shadow, and I was whipped into him hard.

“You’re going to be a problem, aren’t you?” He wrapped his other arm around my center, pinning my arms to me. There was no way I was getting out of his hold now. If there was ever a time to use my magick, this was it.

I closed my eyes and called to it, a tiny sliver igniting inside me. I felt it and pulled at it, right before my feet found ground and the man pushed me away from him.

I opened my eyes and spun on him. He cocked his head and watched me, amusement on his face.

“Magick, huh?” He smiled. “You can try but your magick won’t hurt me, princess.”

“I’m not a princess,” I said without thinking. “What the hell are you?” I took a step back and finally took in what this creature looked like. He was taller than a human, but his form was suspiciously human. Dark granite skin and a well-chiseled body. He didn’t even bother to wear clothes. My eyes drifted lower, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Sorry, but you don’t get to see everything, princess.” He chuckled as I continued attempting to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness around his bottom half. It finally settled into a pair of dark pants and I shrugged.

“Probably wasn’t anything special anyway,” I said and crossed my arms.

He didn’t seem bothered by my insult. I’d have to try harder next time.

“Where the hell am I?” How did I get here?mean, Why am I here?

“You’re here for protection,” he said, watching me.

“Protection? You’re going to protect me?” I laughed and shook my head. “I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, I know, but you won’t,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can.” I know it didn’t sound as confident as I wanted. I mean I could keep the Vampires away. I’d done it before once or twice.

“Jess, you don’t even use your power.”

Ouch. “How would you know that?” I snapped. “I don’t even know what you are and why you think I need you to protect me.”

“Because I already have, many times.” He sighed. “You are a hard one to keep out of trouble.”

I made a face. I’d never seen him before today and he claimed he saved me before. “Stalker much.”

He took two steps and was right in front of me. I backed up and hit the wall of whatever place we were and he stood there, eyes locked with mine. I couldn’t read what they were thinking, but they swirled with the most beautiful silver and black. He blinked, and I felt myself falling into them. It was an odd sensation of shadows and power I’d only felt one other time, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“You are my responsibility.” His words broke the magick of his eyes and I blinked it away.

“You don’t even know me,” I whispered.

“I do.”

“How?” I waited for him to answer, but he just put his hands on either side of my head and leaned in closer.

“You are marked with shadows. You’re mine.”

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Chapter Two

I probably shouldn’t have laughed in his face, but really? “I’m not anyone’s.” I held his gaze as he just watched me, clearly not amused.

“You’ll be staying here,” he said, as though I hadn’t said anything at all.

“Uh, no. I have a life.” I crossed my arms, very aware of how his dark, muscled body was entirely too close to me. He leaned in closer and I licked my lips.

“Not anymore.”

“I’m not staying here,” I said, just above a whisper. I was doing my best not to let him know he was starting to get to me a little. While I’d dealt with plenty of men who thought they could tell me what to do, this one wasn’t just a man.

The lights flickered as his jaw tensed. “You won’t be able to leave on your own, so that makes you my guest.”

“You mean prisoner,” I corrected, and he dropped his arms and backed away.

“Whatever term you’d like, princess.” He crossed his arms and watched me.

For the first time, I really looked around where we were. It wasn’t much more than a room, but it was bigger than mine at home or at college. The walls were a dark gray, but the light seemed to shift around it, like shadows moving when you lit a candle.

The center of the room had an old style chandelier with crystals that emitted light. That had to be what was making the shadows seem like they were moving. To the left of where I was standing was a black wood four-poster bed complete with carved headboard and foot boards. It was made, but purple sheets peaked from under the gray and black pillows.

“This is my room,” he said, obviously noticing me looking around.

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m supposed to stay in your room? With you?”

He cocked a smile. “You want me to stay with you?”

I stared at him.

“Relax, princess. I’ll stay with my brother.” He leaned on one of the wood posts on the bed. “You’ll have this room all to yourself.”

“You still didn’t tell me what’s going on here,” I said. Everything happened so fast. One minute I was at my house with my mom and the next in a bedroom with a strange man creature who made my skin prickle. I still wasn’t sure if it was the magick or just him.

“I told you. You’re here for your protection.”

“That tells me nothing,” I snapped.

“Are you always this difficult?”

“Only with men who steel me from my bedroom,” I said.

“Happens often, huh?” He smirked at me as he spoke and I wanted to punch him right in his face.

“No,” I snapped. “You’re the first.”

“Good,” Let’s keep it that way.”

“What does that mean?” I took a step towards him and he just watched me.

“Exactly what I said.”

“You think this is a joke?” I raised my voice, and he seemed all the more impressed with my fluster.

“You princess, should rest.” He put his hands on my shoulders and I shivered involuntarily. He laughed slightly.

“I’m not tired,” I said, but I felt myself slowly getting weak. What the hell?

“Don’t worry. It’s from the travel. Interdimensional shifts are hard on humans,” he said, slowly lowering me to the bed. “Sleep, and I’ll explain everything later.”

I wanted to protest, to demand to know what the hell was going on here. Everything was so messed up. I was in some weird place with some weird guy I might be slightly attracted to for some reason. I mean, yeah, he was hot, but it was more than that. There was a connection that didn’t make any sense.

But all my body wanted to do was sleep. No matter how much I wanted to fight it, I couldn’t.

The last thing I saw were those strange beautiful eyes softly watching me. And I liked it.

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Chapter Three

I groaned at the smell of fresh coffee. It was nice, but also meant it was time to get up and I wasn’t interested in that. I hugged the pillow and realized this wasn’t my pillow and last night wasn’t a dream.

My eyes shot open, and I slowly sat up in bed. That same room with the dark blankets and purple sheets was all I saw. There was a nice hot cup of coffee sitting on the nightstand beside the bed, but I was in the room alone. At least I hoped I was alone, anyway. It was hard to tell when the guy was a literal shadow.

I took a drink of the coffee, figuring he wouldn’t get the exact proportion of creamer to coffee I liked, but to my surprise, the warm liquid was exactly what I liked. Maybe even a little better. Well, he got one thing right.

“Are you skulking around in here, or are you truly gone?” I said without thinking and took another sip of the dreamy liquid. God, it was fucking good.

“I’m here if you want me to be,” a voice answered, and I sighed.

“Please. I have questions,” I said, setting the coffee down and waiting for him to materialize. It didn’t take long before his tall, dark form was looming over me on the bed. His frame was a little closer to me than I expected.

I bit my lip and watched him. He was a rather good looking specimen of a man. All the way from his hard jawline to his muscled chest. I wondered if this was a form he chose or if this was him.

“You said you took me to keep me safe, right?” I said, still watching him as he cocked his head in thought.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why not just watch out for me in the real world and let me live my life?” I asked. Might as well get to the point. He already said he’d saved me several times before. What changed?

“Because it’s too hard to watch you constantly and find the Vampires that want to kill you,” he said, as though it was the most logical thought in the world and I was slow for not thinking of it.

“Where am I?” I asked finally.

He crossed his arms. “I told you, in another realm.”

“And that’s…” I raised my eyebrows.

He sighed. “The shadow world. It’s a place between worlds.”

“Worlds?” I hesitated. “There’s more than one?”

“Naturally.” His eyebrows bunched together. “Don’t they teach you anything?”

“Not about that,” I answered truthfully.

“I thought witches learned about their abilities and what they can do when they come into their powers.” He watched me as he spoke and I felt like a huge spotlight was shining on how stupid I was with my powers. Truthfully, it wasn’t my fault. My mother wasn’t involved with a coven and we paid for that.

“My mother wanted us to learn the regular stuff. Human stuff.” I forced a smile, but I sometimes wished I’d learned about my powers and met others like me earlier. I mean, up until I was like sixteen, we didn’t know I had any powers. I just thought I was a dud.

“Human stuff,” he repeated. He leaned over me and I swallowed hard. His eyes roamed down my sheet covered body slowly, like he was taking in what I said and making his own interpretation of the words. “Humans are interesting creatures. I suppose you’re more human than I am.”

“Uh, considering you’re literally shadows, I’m gonna say yeah,” I said with a slight smirk.

He finally met my gaze, and he smiled, but it wasn’t just a regular smile. Nope, that had some wicked thoughts behind it and a part of me was excited at the thought. I pushed it away and pulled the sheet up over my chest. I was still wearing my pajamas from last night, but under those swirling eyes, I felt completely exposed.

“Am I just going to be stuck here forever?” I finally said,smiled, and he considered my words. “Like a prisoner.”

“Do you want to be a prisoner, princess?” He leaned in a little closer, his knee on the edge of the bed.

What was he talking about? Of course, I didn’t want to be a prisoner, right?

I cleared my throat, and he chuckled slightly.

“No, you’re not a prisoner,” he said, stepping back. “But you also can’t leave.”

“That’s the definition of prisoner,” I said.

“Not forever. We’re looking for the Vampires now. It won’t be long.”

“And then what?”

He shrugged. “You can live your life.” The way his eyes flicked away told me there was more to it, but I didn’t push.

“So, just a few days.” I nodded as I spoke. “I need a few things. Clothes and my phone.”

“You can’t wear your clothes from your wold here and your phone won’t work,” he said, stepping back and leaning on the wall.

“I can’t live without my phone.” I felt a little bit of panic inside me. My phone was my life. All my social media and my friends and my mom. My mom. She was probably worried sick about me. “I need to call my mom. She doesn’t know what happened.”

“She does,” he answered.

I stared at him for a moment, taking in what he just said. “How would she know?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Uncomplicate it,” I snapped.

“You need to change. The others are going to want to meet you.” He completely ignored me. “There’s clothes in the drawer and a bathroom to the left of it.” I turned towards the door and I threw the sheet off me.

“No, you can’t just leave and not answer me,” I almost yelled.

“I can do whatever I want, princess.”

“Stop calling me that,” I snapped.

“I’ll be back in an hour to get you.” He vanished through the wall as he finished his sentence.

Why are all men infuriating?

Even the ones that aren’t human.

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Chapter Four

I had to admit the bathroom was nicer than most. It had an older style claw foot tub, but it was bigger than the ones she’d seen before. At least three people could fit and be comfortable. I thought about just locking the door and staying the tub instead of going with him.

What where they even going to be doing? I ran the water a little warmer than I would normally and pulled my clothes off. Even the room was warmer than I’d expected. The whole place was dark and almost Gothic, which would have been cool to look at if I wasn’t here against my will.

As soon as I slid into the water, I didn’t care where I was. It felt like a warm hug on my body and something I’d missed when I was in college. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the side of the tub, leaving only my head out of the water. Maybe I would just stay here and make him wait.

I thought about everything and sighed. If the Vampires were back and they were looking for me, I’d have to know how to use my power. That was the one thing they weren’t counting on. They expected me to be weak and rely on this shadow dude.

I decided right then, no matter what I couldn’t be weak. I also couldn’t stay here in this place. I had to get back to my life and what if they hurt my family to get to me? Isn’t that what they did to Lila, my sister? When they attacked her, they went after me to try to break her. If there was on thing Vampires were good at, it was staying the same and using the same tactics. They just figured they were too strong for the average person, I guessed. But I wasn’t average.

Neither was he. This dark shadow being who had grabbed me and taken me someplace I didn’t know in order to keep me safe. Why did he care so much about me? I was just a college student who made average grades. I felt my breath catch as I envisioned him there in the tub with me. The way his hands would be on my body. How he’d take the same amount of care in touching me as he did when he brought me here. The way his muscles would ripple as his hands roamed my body, not missing a single inch.

A clearing throat brought me out of my thoughts and about made me jump out of my skin. I opened my eyes and the shadow man was standing there in front of the door staring at me. His arms were crossed and he was dressed in actual clothes this time.

My eyes roamed over him and he just stood there, a very visible erection a little too close to my eye line.

“I uh… I didn’t realize it was so close to time,” I said, struggling to hide as much of myself as I could.

He took a deep breath, almost like he was steadying himself. “Don’t mind me.”

“Can you leave the room so I can get out of the tub?” I waited as he just smiled and stood there. Now there were two choices, stay in the tub and have a staring contest, or get out and act like he wasn’t bothering me.

I smiled and moved my hands to the side of the tub before getting out of the water and grabbing the towel, very aware of his eyes on my body as I did so. I wrapped the towel around me and pulled the plug for the water to go down, still not looking at him. It wasn’t until I felt his arms around my waist that I realized he’d moved. He pulled me to him and I put my hand on his chest, the white fabric of his shirt the only thing between my hand and him.

“You shouldn’t flaunt your body like that around me,” he whispered in my ear.

“I did ask you to leave, you know,” I smarted off.

He slid his hand up my back and entwined his fingers into my hair. “You’re going to test my resolve, aren’t you?”

“All I did was take a bath with the door locked. You were the one that walked in. You’re testing yourself,” I said. I didn’t know why I was allowing this man to just hold onto my near naked body without protest. I wanted nothing more than that towel to be on the floor and his hands on me. His mouth. I wanted to know what it felt like and we were so close.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” he said as he let go of me and stepped back. He took a breath and took me in one more time before opening the bathroom door. “Get dressed.”

I stood there for a moment, my body still humming from his touch. I’m supposed to be scare of him. He could do anything to me, but maybe that was all I wanted. For him to do everything to me, preferably naked.

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Chapter Five

I peaked around the corner into the bedroom before I came out of the bathroom. I was partially hoping he was there, but there was only a dress laid out on the bed. I tiptoed to it and smiled. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, but then again, I didn’t wear that many dresses. I preferred my dark jeans with all the pockets and comfortable shirts. But it couldn’t hurt to wear it this one time, right?

I dropped the towel and pulled the black dress over my body. It had a shimmer of purple and green when the light hit it just right. The skirt was short, but not so short you were seeing everything and it was tight, but comfortable. I really hope I’m not meeting a bunch of people in this. It was more of a date dress than a socializing dress. At least it was in my mind.

I turned around and shrugged my shoulders. “You can come back now,” I said.

I didn’t even finish my sentence before he was standing in front of me a new sense of control over him.

“You never told me your name,” I said watching him as he took me in.

“Benatoca, but you can call me Ben,” he said as his eyes slid to mine.

“What are we doing tonight or today,” I said. The truth was I had no idea what time it was or actually how long it had been since I’d been at home. I only knew it was long enough for me to sleep unusually well and take the best bath ever.

“Time doesn’t work like it does in your world.”

“So, does that mean it’s day time?” I said without thinking. I didn’t know why I was so obsessed with time all the sudden.

“Yes and no,” he said.

“Do you ever give a straight answer?” I said as he held his hand out for me to take. I glanced at it and bit my lip.

“Do you ever take something offered to you?” He nodded towards his hand and I took it.

“I didn’t want to give you the wrong idea,” I said simply.

“Like in the bathroom,” he said with a smile. “I assure you i only had one idea in mind.”

“That’s kind of the issue, isn’t it. We just met each other five minutes ago and now…” I trailed off.

“Now all you can think about is my hands on your body?”

I snapped my gaze to him and he chuckled. I didn’t say anything even though I wanted to accuse him of reading every dirty thought that crossed my mind. If he was then I was going to have a lot of fun with that.

I didn’t notice we’d walked into a much larger space. The walls seemed to fall away and a night sky of sorts was over head. It was clouded in shadows, but bits of lights streamed through and reminded me a bit of stars. We walked down a set of stairs into an open area with people chatting and dancing. There was a table of foods to the right of us garnished with deserts of all kinds and meats laid out in intricate patterns on the serving plates.

“There is a party tonight,” he said without elaborating.

“A party?” I repeated. Do shadows have parties? I glanced around and realized they must or I was having a very vivid hallucination.

“Yes. My family hosts the annual Night ball every year. The others will know there is a human here so it’s better to have you out her front and center.”

“So, I’m something to show off,” I said.

“In a manner,” he finished.

There was a lot happening in a short period of time here. First, I was pulled away from my family and then whisked away to a ball. A god damn ball like in one of the books I read where the guy does something heroic and gets the girl.

That was all it was, though, books. But here we were everything coming to live right in front of me. The way the ballroom area looked and complete with the people that looked too perfect.

“Ben, it’s good to see you tonight,” a shadow who quickly came together as a dark man with the brightest eyes I’d ever seen said.

“Who is your friend?” Bright eyes looked from me to him.

“This is Jess. She’s visiting,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, I see.” His eyes drifted down my body and back up. “Let’s hope she comes back to see us again.”

“Sirus, Jess is my guest.” There was something about the way he said ‘my’ guest that made my mouth go dry. Was I really lusting after this guy?

“Of course,” he said, but there was something behind his smile that made me shiver.

Ben pulled me away and up some stairs away from the crowd of people. He stopped and sighed.

“You have to be careful here,” he snapped. The sudden change in tone startled me a bit. He actually seemed worried.

“Which is it?” I said and he looked at me, confusion in his eyes.

“What?”

“You said I was safer here than in my world, but then you say I have to be careful here. Which is it?”

“Here I can protect you,” he said.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I pushed this time.

He hesitated.

“Just tell me,” I said. “It’s not like I can leave.” It was true. I might have some power, but I had no idea if it even worked here. I couldn’t just poof to another world like here could and apparently with me in tow if he wanted to.

“Jess, it’s not just that I want to protect you, I have to,” he said.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“You don’t understand. I have to.” He put his hands on my shoulders like he was going to tell me the biggest secret of my life. “Jess, you’re Shadow marked, by me.”

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Chapter Six

“What the fuck does that mean?” I said without a second of hesitation.

He watched me, clearly frustrated by my lack of knowledge.

“It means you’re bound to me, body and soul,” he said.

“Oh the fuck I am.” I shook my head. “Nope, I’m not bound to anyone or anything.”

“When you almost died, I gave you a piece of my soul. That makes you mine.”

“Then take it back,” I snapped. It was all too much.

“That’s not how it works,” he said. “You have to stay alive.”

I shook my head. “You didn’t think this through at all, did you?”

“You were dying. I made a call,” he said. “Would you rather I let you die?”

“I mean maybe,” I said out of frustration. At least that explained all the lustful thoughts and feelings.

“That’s not connected to the marking,” he said, watching me.

“So you can hear my thoughts.” I narrowed my eyes. I fucking hate everything about your stupid face. You can’t keep me here.

“That’s not very nice and I can and I will,” he said, grabbing my arm. “Now, act like you want to be here for tonight so no one else will want to claim you for themselves.”

“I thought I was yours,” I snapped.

“The marking lays claim, but there’s more to it than that. You’re protected from the human world. This one is still a danger.”

“Then I should go back to the room,” I said through gritted teeth and tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong.

“I won’t be there so no, you won’t be going there,” he said pulling me closer to him. “The only place you’re going to be safe is with me. So, suck it up.”

I had no way to know if anything he was telling me was true. I could stomp off and go back to the room, but if he was right, I could be setting myself up for a worse night then just staying with him. But then I’d have to look at his stupid mesmerizing face.

“Fine, but there better be drinks,” I pulled my arm away from him.

“I will hold your hand at all times,” he said, grabbing my wrist. “That way no one can steal you away.”

I snorted. “Cuz that happens all the time.”

“Yes, it does,” he said.

I lost most of my humor and thought about what could happen if someone else took me I didn’t know here. They would have full control over me. I’d be their slave. The thought of being on my knees, hands bound and looking up at someone morphed into looking up at Ben and I felt a wave of energy in my lower region. It wasn’t just arousal, but power.

“Stop that,” he said. I glanced at him.

“Stop reading my thoughts.”

“It’s hard when you’re blaring them so loudly.” He paused. “If you want to be on your knees so badly with your hands bound, there’s plenty of time later.”

“You’re a dick.”

“It’s your thoughts, princess.”

There’s that pet name again. I hated it so much, but didn’t protest when he said it again. There wasn’t much point when he had total control of what happened to me next.

“We can stay up here if you like, rather than going back into all the people,” he said.

“You couldn’t have led with that?” I glared at him and he smiled slightly. “What?”

“Most people don’t push back the way you do. It’s kind of nice to know how you feel.”

“What? You can’t read my mind,” I mocked.

“It’s not like that,” he said. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Try,” I snapped. I watched him as his gaze dropped, the first time I saw any kind of vulnerability in him. It made me soften just a little. “I want to understand since I’m in the middle of all this.”

He hesitated and glanced at the people talking and laughing below. “Not here,” he said. “Very few people know about this and I want to keep it that way.”

I sighed and turned towards the ballroom below. It was amazingly beautiful here, but there was a feeling of dread in the air I couldn’t quite put my finger on. These beings were powerful but they were scared of something.

“When will I be allowed to go back,” I said again. I’d asked this a million times, but one thing I knew was if you were annoying enough, people would listen to you.

“We talked about this. Once the Vampires are dead.”

“There’s always going to be a Vampire. That’s a never ending thing.” I didn’t look at him.

“They will back down once the head one is dead. We’ll make an example of him,” he said with bite in his voice.

“You don’t like Vampires, do you?”

“They are horrible creatures that do nothing for the world.”

“And you do?” I challenged, finally looking his way.

“How do you think you have access to the darker sides of magick?” He smiled slightly and my stomach tumbled. That damn smile was going to undo me. “Without us going in and out of your world, you’d lose touch with the dark.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not if you want to keep your magick overall.” He shook his head. “If we left your world completely, you’re magick would slowly die. There would be no more Witches to defend your world.” He paused for a moment as a light haired woman wearing a light blue ball gown walked past. She was arm in arm with a dark haired shadow man.

“Wait, she’d human,” I whispered.

“Did you think you were the only one here?” He chuckled. “We take human wives from time to time. You’re a bit of a delacesy here.”

I did not like being compared to a meal but maybe that was how they thought about humans. As a toy to play with for a while and then they were just there are traded around like pets.

“You’re not a pet,” he said and I snapped my gaze to his. “Unless you want to be?”

“Stop that,” I said without thinking.

“Jess, you’re safe with me, I promise.” He watched me and I swore I could read something in his gaze. Lust, desire, possession, I wasn’t sure, but a part of me wanted to know and wanted to know right now.

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Chapter Seven

Screaming filled the room and I glanced down to the ballroom area. Shadows were fading into the floors and the walls but another person was reaching for them. His dark hair fell in strings in his face and I couldn’t help but feel some fear as I realized what it was.

A Vampire

“I thought they couldn’t come here?” I said, not taking my eyes off of him.

“They can’t. Someone brought him here.” He glanced at me. “Get back to my room and I’ll take care of it.”

“What? No,” I snapped. “It’s here for me.”

“Exactly why you need to get someplace safe,” Ben watched me for a moment, his dark eyes swirling with his thoughts.

“I can stop him,” I said without thinking.

“You don’t even use your powers, remember?” He held his gaze to me and I felt myself getting angry at his words. They were harsh, but true. Someplace deep down, I knew I was just some weak little girl who needed protecting. All because I was choosing not to use the power these beings wanted so badly.

I ran past him and down the stairs, feeling his gaze follow me before his shadow popped up in front of me.

“Stop. You’re going to get yourself killed,” he said, grabbing my arms. I glanced past him to the Vampire. He caught sight of us and the smile that ran across his face was terrifying.

“Ben,” I managed before the Vampire had a hold of his arm and yanked him out of the way. He jumped to his feet but before he could, the Vampire had his grubby hands on my arms and pulled me to him.

“I’ll be the one controlling the power now, little girl,” he snarled.

I pushed at him, but he was far stronger than me, so I did what any rational person would and kicked him square in the balls.

He grunted at the kick, but didn’t let go. I felt a bit of panic roll through me as he yanked me hard towards him, his horrible stale breath hitting me in the face. “Finally,” he said before Ben had him by the hair pulling him back. The Vampire didn’t let go of me as Ben pulled. It was clear to me, I was going to be pulled into this fight if I didn’t do something.

I took a breath and pulled at my power, just a small amount so I didn’t burn the place down. It flared up in my body and shot to my hand. The white magick swirled around the Vampire’s hand and melted it into ash.

He screamed as it traveled up his arm, but I wasn’t in control anymore. It ripped through him and I tried to pull it back, but it kept going. It kept getting stronger until I was consumed by it.

Then the world around me went black.

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Chapter Eight

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up. I was back in the bedroom on that comfortable bed. I rubbed my eyes, my head was pounding.

“Take it slow,” a low voice said, walking into the room from the bathroom area.

“What happened?” I managed at he gave me a cup of something that smelled like hot tea.

“Drink this.” He didn’t answer me, but motioned towards the tea.

“What is it?”

“It’s a restoration tea. We use it when we use our power too much,” he said simply and took a seat on the little chair beside the bed. He looked funny sitting in such a small chair that was clearly designed with a human in mind.

“Is the Vampire-”

“You killed it, I believe.” He had a bite to his words. Clearly Ben was angry with me. I didn’t say anything and took a sip of the almost bubbling drink. It was sweet like honey but it was also smooth and easy to drink. Most of the teas I added honey to were thick and hard to manage, but this one was near perfect.

“That was stupid, Jess.”

“What does it matter? It’s dead now,”I said.

“You could have died,” he said. His voice was not hiding the anger laced in his words anymore.

“Clearly this isn’t as safe a place as you thought it was. You should take me home and then you won’t have to worry about me,” I said with a slight smile.

“You are the most careless, selfish-.” He stood from the chair and closed the gap between us. “-Insufferable…”

“What?” I pushed. If he was going to insult me, he should do it all the way.

He didn’t say anything as he loomed over me, something running through his eyes I couldn’t read. He leaned down to me and before I could say a word, his lips were crashing into mine.

I reached up and pulled him to me as I fell back on the bed. One hand steadied himself above my head as the other slid up my leg. I was still in the little dress he’d picked out for me, but he wasn’t interested in that. I moaned as his hand slid to the edge of my panties.

I fumbled with his clothing, looking for how they would come off, but he pulled his lips from mine and stared down at me for a moment.

“We can’t do this,” he said breathlessly.

I shook my head. “We really shouldn’t.”

“You don’t understand, if we do, the claim is made.”

“I don’t care,” I said, finally finding the top of his pants and pulling at them.

“No, you don’t understand. If we do this, you can never leave.”

“I don’t care,” I repeated. The only thing I wanted was for this need to be satisfied. To feel him against my skin, inside me. The consequences didn’t matter. Nothing did.

“Yes you do,” he said and pulled away.

It felt like he took a piece of my aching body with him. He shook his head and walked through the door leaving me there feeling like a part of me was ripped away.

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Chapter Nine

I opened the door to the room and glanced down the hallway. He must have figured I wasn’t going to leave the room with the Vampire showing up in the Shadow land and everything, but I needed air or whatever resembled that here.

I walked slowly down the hallway, not sure where the hell I was going but just needing to get out of his space. I was suffocating in this place. I thought about the way his lips felt on mine and how much I wanted to keep that feeling, but if what he said was right, then I couldn’t let it go that far. I wanted to go home. I wanted my life, right?

“You shouldn’t be walking around on your own,” a smooth voice said from in front of me. I looked up to see that same guy we’d met the day prior walking towards me. “It’s dangerous out here alone when you’re a human.”

“That’s what Ben said too,” I said without thinking. “But he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does.”

“Really?” Sirus smiled and cocked his head. “And what is there to know?”

“That I can handle myself if I want to,” I said, crossing my arms.

“I saw that last night. You nearly killed the entire Shadow council and the future King.” He paused. “That is unless he was smart enough to mark you.”

I kept my gaze on him, but didn’t imply I knew what he was talking about.

“No?” He smiled. “Shame. If you’re marked by one of us, you can’t hurt us no matter what you do with your power.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. It was true, I was more confused than when I started.

“Humans like you, ones with magick, are more coveted because you’re useful and can’t hurt who you’re bound to,” He said with a smile. “It’s too bad he let you run around without being bound.”

I wrinkled my forehead in confusion, but before I could react he had his fingers wrapped around my wrist and we were pushing through the void into another world. The speed of the change made my stomach turn and I tried to pull away, but he had a firm grip on me.

As soon as my feet felt solid ground underneath me, I pulled again and he threw me to the ground. I pulled at my power in anger, but nothing came, not even the spark that usually flared when I was angry.

Sirus stepped to the side of me as I grabbed at him and I realized I was in the center of a circle with symbols at each side.

“Oh, you won’t be able to hurt anyone here. Not until I have what I want,” he said with a laugh. “I knew you were the power they were looking for, but if I have control of it, then the Vampires will be gone once and for all.”

I shook my head. “I will never work for you,” I snapped.

“Work for me?” He laughed again. “You misunderstand me. As soon as I remove that mark, Ben put on you, You’re going to be my pet.”

I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was happening. Ben marked me, there was no taking that away. Their couldn’t be. Ben would have told me about it.

“You’re lying. You can’t remove a mark,” I said, rubbing my hand.

“You can if you cut off the magick long enough. What do you think this circle is doing?” He knelt down. “Don’t worry. It won’t be that bad. You’ll do some magick here and there for me and you live out your days comfortably.”

“In the shadow world,” I finished.

“You can’t have everything,” he said. “Otherwise I’d be able to take all of your magick and you’d be…” He slide his gaze to me. “Gone.”

This guy would rather take my magick from me and let me die, what a fucker. “Ben will find me or my sister,” I added.

“Ben doesn’t even know you’re gone and by the time he does,” his gaze slide to my hand. “And your sister has her own issues.” He watched me for a moment before turning to walk from the dark room. “I’ll be back to check on the progress soon.

As soon as he shut the door, I tried stepping out of the circle, but an invisible wall kept me from escaping it. I pushed at it and tried erasing the circle with my hands but all I got out of that was tired muscles and burned fingers from the magick.

I couldn’t see much of the room, but there was a table in the corner with a lamp on it shedding light. There was nothing else in there but a bed and the circle I was stuck in. Where the hell am I? I sat on the floor and leaned against the invisible wall. There was nothing left to do but wait and hope Ben would come looking for me or something worse was in my future.

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Chapter Ten

I felt my eyes start to close. Whatever was happening, was taking everything out of me. I managed to lift my head just enough to see Sirus walk into the room and kneel down. He picked up my hand and looked at it.

“Mmm, this might be a problem,” he said.

I pulled my hand from him. “What are you talking about?” I said, weakly.

“It seems he gave you more than a mark. He gave you part of his life force,” He sighed. “That’s going to complicate things.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face. “You’re going to have to be a good little girl and let me do what I need to or you’re going to die before the mark is placed and bound.”

I looked at him confused. Ben told me he marked me to keep me safe but not that I’d die without it. Bile threatened to come up my throat when I realized what he meant by placing a mark and binding. It was the exact thing Ben didn’t want to do. He didn’t want me forced to stay with him for the rest of my life. I was so stupid not to see it earlier.

“It won’t be long now. I promise to make it quick,” He said. He almost looked like he was conflicted over it and I took the opportunity.

“You don’t have to, you know. You could just let me go,” I said, quietly.

“Let you go back to Ben?” He shook his head. “He’d have me killed and my family.”

“No, I won’t let him.”

He laughed. “No, this is how it has to be. I promise it won’t hurt. None of it.” He ran a hand along my face and pulled the hair out of my eyes. “I’ve had humans before. I know you’re limits.”

He picked me up and stepped out of the circle. The minute I was free of it, I felt the slightest pull of my magick. If I could reach it, I could get myself out of this situation before it was too late.

I pulled at it with every step he took towards the bed until I caught it. Just a sliver of magick that I could hold. I yanked at it until it started filling me. And then a dark yanked my captor off of me and against the wall.

Ben looked back at me, anger and fear in his dark eyes before he stepped towards Sirus on the floor. Shadows filled the room, but that sliver of magick was growing inside me until it filled every part of my dying body, revitalizing everything inside me. I pulled it back, hearing another thump as someone hit the wall.

The magick flared like a flame from my skin and I pulled it back again. It was wild and uncontrollable like lightening, going where it wanted to without regard for who it might hurt or kill.

My magick pushed through the shadows in the room and I could see Sirus with an odd knife in his hand against Ben’s throat.

“I didn’t think I could win, but you seem to be distracted by your plaything,” Sirus snarled.

I met Ben’s eyes and he nodded at me. “Protect yourself. You have all the power you need.”

Ben pushed back at him, but the blade nicked his neck and a little trail of shadows pushed out.

That’s when I lost all sense of control and the magick shot out of me into the room. I closed my eyes and thought about Ben. His mark was gone and he had no protection from the magick I pushed through the room. He was going to die and it was my fault.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to let it go. The magick faded slowly and I opened my eyes.

Everything was gone. I felt my heart break.

“Jess.”

I spun around and standing there was Ben who looked like he’d been hit by a truck, but he was alive.

“How?” I said, reaching my hand to touch his face. I couldn’t believe he was standing there in front of me, alive.

“You protected me this time,” he said with a smile.

“Ben,” I said, stepping towards him. “Take me home.”

“You’re mother will be glad to see you no longer need me,” he said with a defeated smile.

“No,” I shook my head. “Our home.”

“You aren’t bound to me,” he said.

“What if I want to be?”

“You have an entire future ahead of you. You have a life,” he protested. “I won’t take that from you.”

“You’re not.” I put my hand on his chest. “I’m giving it to you.”

Ben looked down at me and shook his head. “No.”

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Chapter Eleven

I walked to my mom’s door from the street like I had done just a few weeks ago but this time I was filled with doubt about everything. Ben turned me down after I’d told him I’d give him everything. He wouldn’t have me.

I opened the door and walked into my mothers house. It was quiet and I figured she was probably at one of her friends or something. Sitting on the counter was my phone and my bag like my mom expected me to come back for it. I picked it up and turned it on. Everything seemed different even though it was only a short time. Like I’d lived a different life and this wasn’t reality anymore.

I sent my mom a quick text and she responded telling me she’d be home in five minutes. It was odd she didn’t tell me anything else, but maybe she just wanted to see me. I mean I did just poof into the shadows with a guy I didn’t know.

Ben. My heart clinched at the thought of him. Why did I feel so connected to him even now? I wasn’t shadow marked anymore. I was free, right?

Then why did all I want to do was summon him somehow and make him listen to me. I didn’t want to go back to college and dealing with Vampires. I wanted him.

Also, uh Vampires. Why was he so sure I could protect myself all the sudden?

I plopped in the chair and sighed. Why is this so hard?

I closed my eyes before the energy shifted and I knew someone was standing in front of me. I opened my eyes to see that same dark haired Vampire from the shadow land and looked at him in confusion. He smiled.

“What, you thought I was dead?” He said before yanking me out of my chair. I couldn’t react fast enough and he threw me against the wall. “Don’t worry, little girl. I’m not here to take your magick.” He took a step towards me as I pulled myself to my feet. “I’ve got my own.”

I barely dodged the bolt of electricity he shot my way. It splintered the wall and the picture of my sister on the best roller coaster on the west coast fell from the wall. I’d been told Vampires could take magick from those they killed if they wanted, but it was so rare, I’d never encountered it before. Of course, I didn’t go looking for Vampires so there’s that.

I pulled at my magick but just enough to throw him off balance. The push of white magick shot at him, but he dodged it at the same time a bolt of electricity slammed into my leg.

I hit the ground and gritted my teeth at the searing hot pain in my calf. He took the opportunity to grab me and pull me to my feet.

“It’s a shame you’re shadow isn’t here. It would be a nice two for one,” he snarled. “I guess you’ll have to do.

My hair stood on end as he charged the air around me. I grabbed his hands and pulled at them. My magick was too far down to get to in time.

Two arms grabbed me from behind at the same time the charge hit. I felt it flow through me into Ben and he fell back. Panic and anger filled me and my magick flared pushing through the Vampire and slamming him against the far wall of my mothers living room. I pushed the magick harder into his body. He pushed back with the electricity he’d stolen from a now dead Witch.

There was no way I was letting him come after me or anyone I loved again. I let go of all control and the magick took on a life of it’s own, ripping through the electricity until it reached him. This time I watched as it pulled him apart and his body turned to ash in front of me.

I stood there for a moment just to make sure this time he was really gone before turning back to Ben. He laid on the floor, his dark form pooling shadows onto the floor.

“Ben, what the fuck?” I said putting my hands on his wounds, but they poured shadows between my fingers. “I thought nothing could kill you.”

“Almost nothing,” he said. “It’s okay. You’re safe and that’s all that matters.”

“You are not dying,” I almost demanded and he chuckled.

“Even you can’t stop death.”

Then it dawned on me. He’d stopped my death with his magick. Maybe mine could work the same. I put my hand on his abdomen and called to my magick. Willing it to come to the surface. Willing it to pull something of mine with it. Light pushed from me around us, blinding me but I kept my hand on his body, the magick searing into my hand.

As fast as the light had filled the space around us, it was gone and Ben looked at me as though I’d done something that shouldn’t be possible and I smiled, pulling my hand away. Where my hand had rested a minute ago a bright yellow and white mark remained.

“What did you do?” He demanded.

“I saved you,” I said, leaning down and letting my lips touch his. “You’re marked by me now.”

“That’s not possible.” He said against my lips.

“You’re mine.”

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Chapter Twelve

I felt his hand slide around me and the world fell away as we traveled to the shadow world and landed in his bed. I was still on top of him, my face inches from his.

His hand tangled into my hair before he kissed me hard. I felt my body melt into his and moaned against his lips. I’d waited for this and no matter what it was happening. He was mine and would do whatever I wanted to him now and forever.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. As soon as our eyes locked, he pulled me to him and kissed me, hard and commanding.

“You’re mine, Jess,” he said. I didn’t complain, because the truth was I was his and he was mine.

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Ben

I watched her breathe as she slept. She was definitely in need of rest after all the fucking. I couldn’t believe after everything she was really mine. My fingers grazed the mark she gave me and I smiled. Never in a million years did I expect she’d mark me. Now I’d have to learn to live like a human in her world.

Instead of her being bound to me, I was bound to her, forever.

And that was fine with me.

The End…